McGill bans bottled water from vending machines on campus

Students at McGill University soon won’t be able to buy bottled water from vending machines as the university rolls out a campus-wide ban.

The step, which falls in line with World Water Day, will eliminate the sale of about 85,000 water bottles each year.

François Miller, director of McGill’s Office of Sustainability, expects the ban will have widespread repercussions.

“The amount of carbon emissions involved in producing these plastic bottles -- transporting them to McGill and then the waste that it generates -- we felt it was the responsible thing to do,” Miller told CTV Montreal.

Students will still have access to clean, fresh drinking water. McGill is adding 25 new water fountains throughout the school, and reusable bottles will be sold at a campus bookstore.

The ban takes effect on May 1, 2019.

Aside from the ban, the university will work with event organizers to cut down on the number of bottles of water used at on-campus events.

Similar campaigns to eliminate bottled water have popped up at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University and the University of Guelph.

The move comes after two McGill student groups -- the Students’ Society of McGill University and the Postgraduate Students’ Society -- passed their own resolutions banning water bottles sales on areas of campus under their purview.

Konstantina Chalastara of the Postgraduate Students’ Society said it’s important that students have all the facts in front of them about local water.

“We have to bring awareness of how it’s not a better type of water. It’s the same or even worse sometimes,” Chalastara said.